Nikita Mazepin's claim that Canadian sanctions are holding back F1 return is absurd

If Nikita Mazepin is hoping winning a legal battle with the Canadian government will help him return to Formula One he's as delusional as he is erratic on the track.

The 24-year-old is attempting to get sanctions Canada put on him following Russia's invasion of Ukraine reversed in order to pave the way for another F1 stint.

His notice of application in court says that he's a "young sportsman and professional motorsport driver who is in no way involved in the aggression suffered by Ukraine" and an inability to race in Canada "catastrophically" reduces his likelihood of returning to Formula One.

Mazepin's sanctions are related to the fact that his father, Dmitry Mazepin, is a Russian oligarch and Nikita could reasonably argue that shouldn't prevent him from plying his trade.

The problem with that argument is it presumes a return to Formula One is a realistic possibility for him, but that's just not the case.

Mazepin never had any business behind the wheel of an F1 car in the first place — and no team in its right mind would offer him that opportunity again.

Not only is his Formula One record abysmal, he wasn't even impressive in two seasons at the Formula 2 level.

In his first, he came 18th in the 2019 standings with just three full-time drivers accumulating fewer points. His second look at that level was more successful as he moved up to fifth in the standings, but context is important as F2 wasn't stacked with talent that year.

Of the four drivers who finished ahead of him, only one — Yuki Tsunoda — has made any impact at the sport's highest level. Mick Schumacher and Robert Schwartzman are both reserve drivers, and Callum Ilott ended up in IndyCar, where he has yet to win a race.

That's not the kind of F2 performance likely to earn a driver an F1 seat, but Mazepin snagged his through raw nepotism. His father's potash company, Uralchem, became the title sponsor of the Haas team in 2021 and suddenly Nikita was one of the outfit's drivers.

In his only Formula One season, Mazepin was nothing short of dreadful.

The car he had at his disposal was not competitive, but he showed a complete inability to do anything with it. His best result — a 14th-place finish at the Azerbaijan GP — came during a race where only 16 drivers finished, and Lewis Hamilton made a critical late-race error that put him at the back of the grid.

Even in Mazepin's best finish, he essentially beat one driver.

He never finished better than 17th in any other grand prix and he was beaten by his teammate, Schumacher, in 18 of 22 races. Two of the times Mazepin came in ahead of Schumacher it was due to the German failing to finish.

Not only were the results ugly, it was also apparent that Mazepin simply wasn't able to control his car. He spun out on the very first lap of his F1 career...

... and was involved in a number of dangerous crashes, like this one at the Saudi Arabian GP:

To quickly summarize, we're talking about a driver who didn't come by his first F1 opportunity honestly and performed dismally in his only season. The idea that sanctions are what's holding him back from another team giving him a shot is laughable.

That's especially true given the field is full of quality 25-and-under talents, from established names like Max Verstappen, Charles Leclerc, George Russell, Lando Norris, and Lance Stroll to up-and-comers like Oscar Piastri, Zhou Guanyu, Logan Sargeant and even Tsunoda.

On Tuesday, Mazepin told Russian media, including the Tass News Agency, that he didn't feel like he was likely to return to F1.

In a different context, those words could be read as a self-aware person coming to terms with a dream coming to an end. For Mazepin, they were in reference to the sanctions he faces in Canada, as well as countries in the European Union plus Montenegro.

The 24-year-old driver is absolutely right not to see a path back to Formula One, but none of those countries have anything to do with why. Somehow, Mazepin has created a reality for himself where he's the victim, despite the fact he's already been given more opportunities than his talent warrants.

Whether he can see it or not, the situation is simple. Mazepin just isn't good enough for F1 — or particularly close.